Agriculture
Agriculture is Iraq's largest employer, the second largest contributor to GDP, and an effective engine for promoting stability through private sector development, poverty reduction, and food security. The revival of a dynamic, market-driven agricultural sector will strengthen private business, increase income and employment opportunities, and help meet the food requirements of the Iraqi people. From 2003 through the fall of 2006, USAID's Agriculture Reconstruction and Development Program for Iraq (ARDI) restored veterinary clinics, introduced improved cereal grain varieties, repaired agricultural equipment, and trained farmers and ministry staff. USAID recently initiated a new agriculture program, Inma. The new program will extend the production improvements made by ARDI by working at the provincial level to support the development of agribusinesses and agricultural markets, improving farmer livelihoods. Inma will Complement USAID's other economic growth programs.
INMA: REVITALIZING IRAQ'S AGRIBUSINESS SECTOR
Complementing USAID's other economic growth programs, USAID's new agriculture program, Inma, will work in the provinces to support the development of agribusinesses and agricultural markets, improving farmer livelihoods and energizing Iraq's single largest source of employment and second largest value sector. Valued at $343 million, Inma is a three-year project with two one-year option periods.
Meaning "growth" in Arabic, Inma will help build meaningful linkages between farmers, agribusinesses, financial services, and domestic and international markets. Technical advisors will support national and local government agencies as they adapt to the rapidly evolving legal, regulatory, and public service needs of a free market economy. By promoting public-private partnerships and dialogue, Inma will stimulate local and national policy-making that underpins free market economic growth.
Helping Iraqis transform local economies, Inma will work in close coordination with Provincial Reconstruction Teams and other provincial initiatives on the development of agribusinesses and value-added processing. Specifically, Inma will:
- Improve agricultural quality and productivity. Inma will train farmers on modern technical practices to achieve better yields for their crops and more productive livestock.
- Restore soil and water management systems. Program efforts will also support farmers as they restore poorly functioning drainage facilities and improve irrigation practices.
- Increase the competitiveness of Iraqi agribusinesses. Inma will assist Iraqis as they improve food grades and standards for sanitary and phytosanitary certification protocols, inspection procedures, and compliance criteria.
- Increase domestic and foreign partnerships. Inma advisors will support the Iraqi private sector as it establishes needed linkages with foreign enterprises and international markets.
THE AGRICULTURE RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM, 2003-2006
From 2003 through the fall of 2006, USAID's Agriculture Reconstruction and Development Program for Iraq (ARDI) restored veterinary clinics, introduced improved cereal grain varieties, repaired agricultural equipment, and trained farmers and ministry staff.
Food Security. Iraq currently imports almost $3 billion in food commodities annually. USAID programs help are helping to expand production of wheat, the most costly component of the Public Distribution System food basket, to minimize food imports. Already, efforts on select Iraqi farms have doubled wheat production, from 0.8 metric tons per hectare (MT/ha) to between 1.5 and 2.0 MT/ha. Over 360 crop demonstrations nationwide have introduced farmers to improved production technologies for wheat, barley, rice, and maize.
Private Sector Development. Decades of conflict and mismanagement have resulted in a severe lack of functioning agricultural machinery. USAID programs repaired thousands of Iraq's tractor and combine harvester fleet. The nationwide program established networks of trained technicians to support continued maintenance.
Poverty Reduction. Development and growth of the agricultural sector, currently employing 25 percent of the Iraqi workforce, will reduce poverty and improve household incomes. USAID supports the development of high value crops like date palms, tomatoes, and olives. In the south, USAID worked with impoverished farmers to improve broad-bean production; in the north, vulnerable groups are participated in workshops on beekeeping, a traditionally profitable business. USAID-sponsored date palm nurseries across 13 governorates will produce 410,000 offshoots annually, eventually contributing $40 million to the Iraqi economy annually.
Livestock. Livestock improvement programs benefited the poorest sectors of society. USAID renovated 70 veterinary clinics and provided training across Iraq, benefiting over 180,000 breeders. Fertility treatments increased water buffalo herds by 20 percent. USAID assisted farmers to expand domestic feed grain production to revitalize the domestic poultry industry, previously a major source of income.
Irrigation. Over half the irrigated area in southern Iraq is affected by water-logging and salinity, diminishing crop production and farmer incomes. USAID and the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) worked to establish an integrated soil-water-crop management approach, including demonstrations illustrating efficient water use. USAID also assisted Iraqi ministries in preparing a National Water Strategy to manage water allocation, storage capacity, hydro-dam reservoirs, and flood control.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Market Development: Established a wholesale price information system 15 major urban markets for dissemination to producers and merchants. Developed and strengthened 54 private agriculture-based associations, cooperatives, and NGOs. Five radio and TV stations broadcast daily market price reports throughout the country.
Essential Equipment: Distributed 169 seed cleaners to upgrade seed stock for wheat, making over 31,500 tons of cleaned and treated wheat seed available for planting in 2006-07 season, benefiting 41,000 farm families around the country.
Capacity Development: Introduced 12,600 farmers, public officials, and university staff to technologies for high value cash crops and cereal grains. Trained 800 Iraqi public officials in programs of strategy development, decision-making, and statistical surveys. Trained 200 Ministry of Agriculture extension agents in participatory extension techniques. Repair 5,000 tractors, providing tractor owners with an additional income stream of $15 million from contract work, and train 137 farm machinery mechanics.
Grain Production: Demonstrated a 40 percent average wheat yield increase over traditional methods for farmers that utilized a cost-effective technical package on test plots in three northern governorates. A national seed cleaning program prepared 32,872 metric tons of cleaned and treated wheat seed for planting.
Infrastructure Development: Rehabilitated irrigation infrastructure to improve water supply to a total of 618,000 acres, benefiting 900,000 rural residents.
Grain Production: Increased production of wheat 25 percent over a 2002 baseline estimate of one metric ton per 2.5 acres.
High Value Cash Crops: Completed infrastructure for Ministry of Agriculture to establish an annual increase in production capacity of 40,000 date palm mother plants. Planted 43,500 date palm mother plants in 13 orchards in 11 governorates.
Livestock: Reconstructed 70 veterinary clinics, responsible for serving 5.25 million animals and 140,000 animal breeders.
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